The 10 Rules Of Dating
by Idle Stripe
Summary: Draco's finally going on a date, but what does Ryu have to do with it? And what is that list he's written all about? Rated for slight language abuse.


_**-The 10 Rules Of Dating-**_

_**-A 'Harry Potter' fanfiction-**_

=^w^=

_Dear Ms. Altona, _

_My name is Draco Malfoy and I have just asked your daughter to Hogsmeade at the end of this month as a formal date. She accepted, but I am feeling guilty in asking her because I do not know enough about her to sustain conversation. I am a fifth-year also, however I am in Slytherin house which made it really awkward to ask Tora to Hogsmeade due to the fact that she is in Ravenclaw house. _

_Could you please respond to this message with some things that could help me gain your daughter's favour? _

_Draco Malfoy_

=^w^=

_Master Malfoy, _

_I'd be more than happy to allow you to date my youngest daughter; really, you have no idea how hard it is to get her to go out sometimes. She's afraid to date guys because her father's not around to approve of them (you can find out about that at a later time). If you want information about Tora I suggest you ask Ryu, her twin brother. He'd be more than happy to help you._

_Rhea Altona. _

_PS: I did a background check on your family (standard issue, sorry; it's the Italian in me) and I can honestly say that your family history doesn't worry me. I've seen worse._

=^w^=

Ryu read over the letter his mother had sent the Slytherin with mildly interested gold eyes, his mother's stationery almost taunting him evilly. Once finished, he glanced up at the Slytherin standing in front of him with a scowl on his face as deep as the lake in the grounds. Draco crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently against the tiled floor of the Great Hall.

"Well?" he asked. The Ravenclaw blinked.

"Well...what?" he replied.

"Are you going to help me or not?"

"For one, I cannot believe my mother is against Tora on this; she's going to have a _field day_ when she finds out. And two, why not?" The Slytherin blinked. That was it? No rebuttal? No nasty jibe to throw at him for taking his twin sister away? He was fully aware that he and Ryu weren't exactly on the best of terms – a duel on the first day the twins arrived at Hogwarts saw to that – but for the Ravenclaw to just...say yes...

Rhea Altona must be a pretty forceful woman.

Scratching brought Draco out of his daydream, and he looked down to see Ryu scribbling something on the back of the letter. All he picked up were numbers and the words 'do' and 'don't'. What was it, some sort of list?

"Here, this should help," The Ravenclaw waved the list in the Slytherin's face mockingly, "It's a list of the ten rules our family has to get any of our partners to agree to. They're pretty basic, all because they used to be written in Italian and Japanese so they're mostly common sense more than anything."

"And what makes you think I am going to agree to these stupid rules?" Draco snatched the list from the fellow fifth-year and read over the terms he'd written, the ink still shining a little in the dim light filtering down through the ceiling. The rules were pretty basic, but they all carried their own hidden penalties and agendas that made the Slytherin nearly vomit at their implications.

"Forget it." he said finally, throwing the list away.

"_Matte _(1), Malfoy." The blond froze. He knew Ryu was having fun with this; he'd resorted to using one of his native languages to speak in. Turning around, his eyes widened at the smug look on the Ravenclaw's face, and immediately began planning ways to remove it.

Maybe a Scouring Charm...

"If you want to date my sister..."

Or even a Draught of Living Death...

"...then you need to agree to these rules."

Screw it, he was going to use a knife. A rusted one, just for kicks.

Ryu's smug look morphed into a smug grin at the colour slowly seeping into the pallid face of the Slytherin, his gold eyes glittering with mirth. If he wanted Tora, he was going to follow their rules.

Besides, it made for excellent fodder for his mother later on.

"Do we have an accord?" He waved the list again for kicks, and jumped a little as Draco snatched it and the eagle-feather quill from him. The paper was signed rather haphazardly, but that was definitely a signature there.

"Happy now?" the blond snapped. The Ravenclaw rolled up the letter and tucked it into his robe, shaking the Slytherin's hand jovially.

"Very much so," he said, "And don't worry; I'll make sure Tora looks her best for you."

Why did he even think he could just date a gorgeous girl _without_ her family knowing about it?

=^w^=

Rule #1: Don't be late to a date; it's just rude. _(And I'll curse you if I find out you were.)_

Rule #2: Always look your best and be punctual._ (Sort of coincide, don't they Malfoy?)_

Draco growled in his throat and stuffed the parchment into his pocket, the words written by the male Ravenclaw twin still echoing around in his mind's eye. He'd shown up at the castle door ten minutes early to beat the other students waiting to go to Hogsmeade (and to escape Pansy's incessant drabble she called 'conversation') but was immediately regretting it; damn, it was cold!

"Draco, why are you glaring holes through the door?"

The Slytherin jumped and turned – whoa, _Merlin_.

Tora was standing just outside the door, bundled up in a pair of black jeans and a black coat that concealed another windcheater and two shirts, complimented with a blue scarf, gloves and beanie to alert those who looked at her that she was a Ravenclaw student. Her Ravenclaw emblem sat on her left breast, the bronze eagle almost shining in the pale light that shone weakly over the grounds.

Fighting back a blush, the blond swallowed the mysterious lump in his throat as the Ravenclaw female joined him, waiting for him to do something instead of staring at her like she was a dragon.

Rule #3: Don't lie to your date or about any aspect of your life. _(Knowing your luck, you're going to be the easiest book to read.)_

Rule #4: Compliment your date on how they look._ (Be polite, damn it!)_

Trust Ryu to crop up at the most unfortunate of moments.

"You...look nice." Draco managed, his eyes training themselves on her own. Tora looked down at her attire and blinked.

"Thank you, Draco. You look pretty handsome yourself, but then again green always suited you." she replied, giggling and leading the way off the grounds toward the wizarding village. The blond blinked; was she just..._flirting_ with him? Or was it some sick way of Charming him?

Well, whatever it was he was going to find out.

The two fell into step the whole way to Hogsmeade, the small community alight with some sort of cheer as the Hogwarts students entered. Several instantly headed for The Three Broomsticks, eager for a glass of Butterbeer, while others sauntered into Honeydukes Sweet Shop or the local joke shop Zonko's. Tapping a finger against her chin, Tora looked around the main street and blew out a vaporised puff of air.

"What to do first..." she mused.

"What about heading to the Shrieking Shack?" Draco suggested, pointing to the derelict-looking house in the distance. Tora's pierced eyebrow raised a little.

"Isn't the rumour about it being haunted true?" she asked.

"Only if you let yourself believe it," The Slytherin took her hand and began leading the way, "Come on, let's go." The Ravenclaw allowed herself to be tugged along the road, only pulling away a few feet from the gate. Sitting down on a rock, she took several deep breaths to try and calm her heart before she blacked out; previous experience had taught her better. Draco watched her with confused eyes. Why was she so tired; it wasn't _that_ far away from Hogsmeade.

"I'm sorry Draco, I should've told you," the Ravenclaw said after a while, "It's my anaemia; I get tired easily which is why I'm sometimes late to Potions." The Slytherin discreetly pulled the list from his pocket and scanned the next two rules.

Rule #5: Don't ignore your personal safety._ (Or others; refer to Rule #3 if you need help.)_

Rule #6: Plan ahead._ (You're a Malfoy; you should have some of these skills.)_

Hissing, the blond began plotting the male twin's murder as he replaced the list, sitting beside Tora until her breathing returned to normal.

"There's some space in The Three Broomsticks if you want to go there." he said after a period of silence, during which the Ravenclaw had rested her head on his shoulder.

The red on his cheeks was because of the cold, thank you.

"Can we walk slowly? I don't know about you, but if my hunch is correct there are three gossips following us and I want to give them something to gossip about." she whispered, leaning a little too close to his ear. Biting back a snarky retort (and remembering Ryu's _little_ promise before they left) Draco stood up and led the Ravenclaw away from the Shrieking Shack.

Was it his imagination, or were there more footprints in the ground than before?

=^w^=

The Three Broomsticks wasn't as crowded as either of them thought when they entered, the smell of various drinks reaching their nostrils and making Tora's gold eyes water slightly. Draco steered her to a table in the back and sat down, ordering two Butterbeers for them.

"Anyone would think you were on a schedule with all this," Tora waved her hand in the air as if to demonstrate her point, "Are you sure your father isn't tailing you on this?"

Rule #7: Don't give away too much about yourself on the first date._ (Refer to Rule #3 and its endnote if you have anything to say about that.)_

Rule #8: Be interested and interesting._ (Don't know how you're going to work that one, but give it a go.)_

Fuck off, Altona.

"Am I not allowed to have my own tangent?" he retorted, sipping at the drink that was placed in front of him by a very well-endowed witch. She gave him a coy smile and a wink before scurrying back to the bar, a strange burn mark on the back of her dress. The Slytherin watched the Ravenclaw slip her wand back up her sleeve and smirked a little. It seems that there was more to the enigma that was Tora Altona than he first thought, but he wasn't about to go probing for information now.

It was against the rules.

"I'll have to remember this drink for Rune and Mum," Gold eyes examined the liquid in the glass, "It's very...um..."

"Buttery?" he offered.

"No..._omoshiroii _(2)," she said, then catching the look on his face, elaborated, "Interesting."

"Is that a habit for you? To fall back into another language?" Draco's eyes scanned the Ravenclaw as she fidgeted a little with her scarf, searching for the right thing to say.

"I guess you could say it is. I only started doing it after my father died the year before we transferred to Hogwarts; I think being here has made it escalate."

"What was your father like?" Tora looked back at her date, her eyes wide. Why was he – wait, his father was an arsehole, wasn't he?

"He was a brave man..." she said wistfully, "He always stood up for himself and others no matter who they were or what they fought for...he was intelligent, too; got himself out of trouble as fast as he got himself into it...and he taught me everything that I needed to know about magic when I wasn't at school."

"I see," Gold eyes dulled; that little confession must've hurt him, "Would you like to meet up again sometime? Say..."

Rule #9: Don't be too available._ (I already think you're a man-whore, but let's not go getting any other ideas, alright?)_

"...next weekend?"

"I'd love to," The two stood and left The Three Broomsticks, "It was really nice spending time with you, Draco. Now I can prove that you're not the arrogant arsehole everyone else says you are."

"I wouldn't count your dragons before they hatch." Laughing, they made their way back to Hogwarts, the mood considerably lighter than before.

=^w^=

"Talk, Stripe."

"Go to hell, Scale." Ryu let his jaw drop as Tora walked into the Ravenclaw common room, a smile on her face that could light up the dungeons. He watched as his twin sat in one of the plush blue chairs and unwrapped her scarf from her neck, her breathing slightly erratic from all the walking.

"Did you have a good time?" the male twin asked.

"Yep. And I found out about the list, too; did you know that your handwriting is easy to pick out as a troll in a pixie convention?" the female replied, grinning at the embarrassed flush on her sibling's face. Standing up, she pressed a piece of parchment into his hands before heading for the girls' dormitories to sleep off the day's exercise; damn anaemia. Ryu raised an eyebrow at her disappearing back, but opened the parchment anyway.

Rule #10: Enjoy yourself._ (Certainly did, Altona. I hope you like the idea of me as a brother-in-law, because you've got a few years to get used to it.)_

"Git." Ryu muttered, throwing the parchment into the fire.

=^w^=

1: Japanese for 'wait'.

2: Japanese for 'interesting'.

=^w^=

_**DISCLAIMER: The disclaimer applies to the characters and settings of the 'Harry Potter' series – J.K. Rowling – the ten rules – the Internet – and Tora, Ryu, Rune and Rhea – me. **_


End file.
